Super Soco CU £2k Electric scooter | FIRST RIDE

Traditionally there have been a few barriers that help to make electric scooters less of an option for most people. Namely range and the high purchase price when compared with more conventional scooters. This new Super Soco CU should help to bridge the gap and put those fears to bed.

Moped pricing

Firstly the price, the Super Soco can be ridden on a moped licence, or full car licence and qualifies for the plug-in grant. It costs just £2,154 to buy one outright. You can have it on finance for just £48.12 per month at Midland Scooter Centre.That’s less than the cost of your bus fare and just £225 more than a new Piaggio Zip 50 (£1929). The Super Soco (not to be confused with an oversized water pistol) will out accelerate the Zip and most modern mopeds, making it much more useable, plus it’s going to be much cheaper to run and maintain.

VIDEO | Traffic busting on the CU

Range

The range is claimed to be 40 miles from the 60-volt lithium ion removable battery, that’s more mileage than most moped commuters will need to do in a week. Charge time is 6-8 hours and the battery can be lifted out from under the seat and taken into work with you. Charge it whilst you’re at work and it costs you a big fat zero to run the scooter. Seemingly electric is free these days since the world decided to force us all on to it, although people in certain areas of Yorkshire are still running on candle power.

Bosch Power

The CU (I can’t type CU without a Scottish accent) is equipped with a 1300 w Bosch hub motor which gives a maximum power of 2788 watts and 115 Nm of torque. The motor also has three power modes so you can dim the power if you like, but let’s be honest it’ll sit in the highest power mode most of the time. Our test scooter had been de-restricted so rather than the standard (dangerous) 28 mph it does 39mph on the clock. Even in restricted mode, it will accelerate as well though. That’s the beauty of electric scooters, the torque is available as soon as you twist the throttle.

Intelligent LED headlights

Modern LED lighting and integrated indicators mean you’re seen day or night. The neon lozenge shaped halo daytime running lights look cool and make the scooter stand out. Although they’re marketed as ‘Intelligent LED headlights’ when asked, the scooter failed to tie my shoelace, so they’re not that smart…

The wide-angle dash is bang up to date with a useful light-sensing display that makes sure you can see the info night, day or in bright sunlight. You really can’t miss the huge MPH figures but the display also has power consumption figures and battery condition etc. It’s neater than a well-arranged line up of tiger feet. Now that’s neat.

Well connected

The scooter comes with a dedicated Super Soco app that gives you details on battery condition, can diagnose faults in real time, show you what’s been recorded on the instruments, your range and show you where you’ve been.

Front facing camera

There’s also an optional 1080p front-facing camera that links with the app via wifi and can record up to four hours of footage, it will also detect a collision and store the last image recorded. Clever stuff.

Light in weight and lighter on the pocket than the Vespa Elettrica in the background at £4999

Lightweight

Most electric scooters suffer from obesity, the weight of the battery turns what should be a manageable machine into something much heavier and harder to manhandle than a comparable petrol-powered scooter. Not so with the Super Soco. It’s super light, it tips the scales at just 70kg including the battery. As you can see, Andrew from MSC can lift it without a hernia-inducing effort. This not only makes it very manageable but also means the CU is ideal for chucking on the back of a camper/motor home or in a caravan.

First impressions

Remember that this is a moped equivalent so falls into the L1e class. It’s designed as a lightweight scooter, both for ease of use and to make the most of the available power. As such it’s comparable to something along the lines of a Piaggio Zip and at first sight, you might think there’s not much to the CU. Take a longer look around though and the fancy lighting, the dash and the connectivity make up for any shortcomings in the looks department. It’s not ugly, just a bit different, although I can’t help but think a nicely designed faux engine cover like on the Retrospective Scootersconversions would be a better way to hide the ugly swinging arm.

First ride

I’ve ridden quite a few electric scooters and bikes of varying categories and they do vary enormously, especially the cheaper ones. Although they really have started to come on in the last couple of years.

The Super Soco CU is certainly capable. Jump on it, turn the key and let the electronics do their stuff then twist and go. It moves away smoothly on the throttle and is actually much nippier than any petrol 4-stroke fifty I’ve ridden and also quicker than quite most standard 2-stroke fifties. That acceleration is well worth having on a moped, it makes the difference between hugging the gutter trying to get up to speed and being able to hold your own confidently on the road. On the CU I was able to nip to the front of queuing traffic, as you’ll see on the video. Safe in the knowledge that I’d be able to get away quick enough without getting in anybody’s way. I was even happy to ride it on a section of dual carriageway. The scooter gets up to 30mph quite quickly and will maintain that speed. On the de-restricted version it’ll hit 39mph. Even on hills, it didn’t lose too much power.

As per usual whilst out riding electric machines I had a couple of people walk out in front of me, both of them on the phone, neither looking or listening properly. I was also chased by a dog, unfortunately not on camera. An electric scooter/car isn’t easy to hear. We maybe need to update the green cross code to make people more aware of looking properly, rather than relying on sound alone as many do.

My test ride took in some town and country riding and the local area is quite hilly which gave the scooter a chance to flex its muscles. Steeper gradients weren’t overly tough for the nimble machine, unlike some four stroke peds where you might as well push them up a hill.

The scooter’s narrow profile means it’s maybe not got as much weather protection as some scooters but it’s also no worse than the Zip and although the legshields aren’t overly wide they will still keep some of the wind and rain off the rider’s legs.

On a practical note, the scooter has very little storage space beneath the seat, thanks to the battery being stored in there. You’ll just about get your waterproofs on top of the battery, or you can shove them in the open storage pocket behind the legshields. A top box would probably be the first item on a commuters wish list.

The CU rides well, despite its fairly low price tag (low for an electric scooter for sure), with front and rear discs the braking isn’t bad and the suspension is good enough as well. It’s light, nimble and goes well.

Should I buy one?

I’m a petrol head and wouldn’t usually advocate buying an electric scooter over a petrol one but in this case, I’d make an exception. The ‘Plug-in’ grant makes this particular machine much closer on price to a moped. For just over two grand you’re getting a useful little scooter packed with modern tech, a decent motor, removable battery (for ease of charging it’s much better than needing an extension lead), a 40-mile range and virtually free running costs. Other than a yearly service, and replacing tyres/brake pads now and again an electric scooter is much less bother than a petrol scooter.

The Super Soco range can be found at various dealers around the country, the one we tested out was the demo machine at Midland Scooter Centre. Pop in and give it a try, you might just be impressed enough to buy one, or be tempted by one of the Super Soco electric bikes.

You can give MSC a call on: 0115 9392713, and tell them SLUK sent you.